Somalia rebels main block to aid: U.N. report

left

right

Internally displaced Somali children are seen outside their shelter at a camp in Badbado IDP settlement, south of Somali's capital Mogadishu, July 27, 2011.
REUTERS/Omar Faruk

1/6

left

right

A newly arrived refugee child drinks inside their tent in Baley settlement near the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, July 27, 2011. The European Union's executive will increase funding for victims of the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, the EU's crisis chief said on Wednesday after visiting Kenya and Somalia.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya (KENYA - Tags: SOCIETY CIVIL UNREST DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)

2/6

left

right

A newly arrived refugee girl carries a sleeping mat as she walks into the Baley settlement near the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, July 27, 2011.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

3/6

left

right

A newly arrived refugee family walks to a reception centre in Baley near the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, July 27, 2011.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

4/6

left

right

An internally displaced Somali woman sits outside her shelter at a camp in capital Mogadishu, July 27, 2011.
REUTERS/Ismail taxta

5/6

left

right

An internally displaced Somali woman baths her child outside their shelter at a camp in capital Mogadishu, July 27, 2011.
REUTERS/Omar Faruk

NAIROBI Rebels in Somalia -- where famine has been declared and 3.7 million people are going hungry -- burned food and medicine, and killed charity workers, as part of a long-running campaign of extortion against aid groups, according to a U.N. report.

The evidence in the U.N. Monitoring group report on Somalia and Eritrea exposes a policy of intimidation against aid groups going back as far as 2008.

Both the U.N. and the United States have blamed the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group for worsening the food crisis in the country, where famine has been declared in two regions largely controlled by the militants.

"The single greatest obstacle to humanitarian assistance in Somalia during the course of the mandate has consistently been the denial of access by armed opposition groups, principally by elements of Al-Shabaab," the report, obtained by Reuters on Thursday, said.

The report said some U.N. agencies working in Somalia suspected local organizations they funded and funneled supplies through were paying money to al Shabaab, which the group called "taxes."

The report details incidents of al Shabaab officers demanding bribes from U.N. and aid agency officials to allow them to work in rebel areas and, in some cases, burning food stocks and medicine when cash was not paid out.

Al Shabaab surprised aid groups in the region this month when they pledged to reverse a ban on food aid that they imposed in 2010, but they later said embargoes against the U.N. food agency, WFP, and some major aid agencies would remain.

Political analysts in the region say that the famine declaration has put the rebels in a difficult position.

They may need to open their regions to food aid for fear of a public backlash if they do not, but allowing Western organizations into their territory is difficult to sell to their more hardline leaders, the analysts say.

"EAT ANYTHING EXCEPT FOOD AID"

In one incident in late 2010, an al Shabaab commander made a speech to local people, warning them against accepting foreign help, the UN report said.

"You can eat anything except food aid," the report quotes him as telling the crowd.

WFP has said it cannot reach more than 2 million Somalis now facing starvation in the areas controlled by al Shabaab.

WFP officials say they will try to access the al Shabaab areas over the next week but that they will consider dropping food from aircraft as a last resort if they cannot.

The report says the rebel group's contingent of foreign fighters drives the hostility toward charities, especially those deemed Western or Christian.

"Evidence also pointed toward the negative influence of foreign elements on al Shabaab leaders who were viewed as being the most obstructive to international aid delivery," the report said.

Security sources in the Horn of Africa say al Shabaab has several hundred foreign jihadists fighting alongside its Somali rank and file.

The report said al Shabaab commanders ask aid groups for an initial payment of $10,000 for access to the areas it controls followed by a registration fee of another $10,000 and payments of $6,000 every six months.

The rebels also demanded 20 percent of the value of all food and other supplies shipped through their areas and charged a duty of 10 percent on all vehicles.

(Editing by David Clarke)

Next In World News

WASHINGTON/PARIS Key U.S. allies in Europe are quietly expressing concern over President-elect Donald Trump's approach to Syria, warning that his pledge to work more closely with Russia, Damascus' main backer, will do little to diminish the terrorist threat emanating from Syria.

ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT The Syrian army pressed an offensive in Aleppo on Friday with ground fighting and air strikes in an operation to retake all of the city's rebel-held east that would bring victory in the civil war closer for President Bashar al-Assad.

SEOUL South Korean lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Friday to impeach President Park Geun-hye over an influence-peddling scandal, setting the stage for her to become the country's first elected leader to be expelled from office in disgrace.

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: